The Nokia 3310 phone is one of the best-selling handsets of all time, selling 126 million units Seventeen-year-old Robin West is an anomaly among her peers - she doesn't have a smartphone.
Instead of scrolling through apps like TikTok and Instagram all day, she uses a so-called "dumbphone".
These are basic handsets, or feature phones, with very limited functionality compared to say an iPhone. You can typically only make and receive calls and SMS text messages. And, if you are lucky - listen to radio and take very basic photos, but definitely not connect to the internet or apps.
These devices are similar to some of the first handsets that people bought back in the late 1990s.
Two phones pictured in 2005, two years before Apple released its first iPhone, and 11 years before TikTok
Ms West's decision to ditch her former smartphone two years ago was a spur of the moment thing. While looking for a replacement handset in a second-hand shop she was lured by the low price of a "brick phone".
Her current handset, from French firm MobiWire, cost her just £8. And because it has no smartphone functionality she doesn't have an expensive monthly data bill to worry about.
"I didn't notice until I bought a brick phone how much a smartphone was taking over my life," she says. "I had a lot of social media apps on it, and I didn't get as much work done as I was always on my phone."
The Londoner adds that she doesn't think she'll ever buy another smartphone. "I'm happy with my brick - I don't think it limits me. I'm definitely more proactive."
Robin West says her friends keep asking her when she is going to get a new smartphone
Dumbphones are continuing to enjoy a revival. Google searches for them jumped by 89% between 2018 and 2021, according to a report by software firm SEMrush.
Meanwhile, a 2021 study by accountancy group Deloitte said that one in 10 mobile phone users in the UK had a dumbphone.
"It appears fashion, nostalgia, and them appearing in TikTok videos, have a part to play in the dumbphone revival," says Ernest Doku, mobiles expert at price comparison site Uswitch.com. "Many of us had a dumbphone as our first mobile phone, so it's natural that we feel a sense of nostalgia towards these classic handsets."
Mr Doku says it was the 2017 relaunch of Nokia's 3310 handset - first released in 2000, and one of the biggest-selling mobiles of all time - that really sparked the revival. "Nokia pushed the 3310 as an affordable alternative in a world full of high-spec mobiles."
He adds that while it's true that dumbphones can't compete with the latest premium Apple and Samsung models when it comes to performance or functionality, "they can outshine them in equally important areas such as battery life and durability".
Five years ago, Przemek Olejniczak, a psychologist, swapped his smartphone for a Nokia 3310, initially because of the longer-lasting battery. However, he soon realised that there were other benefits.
Przemek Olejniczak admits that he now has to plan ahead more when he goes travelling
"Before I would always be stuck to the phone, checking anything and everything, browsing Facebook or the news, or other facts I didn't need to know," he says.
"Now I have more time for my family and me. A huge benefit is that I'm not addicted to liking, sharing, commenting, or describing my life to other people. Now I have more privacy."
However, Mr Olejniczak, who lives in the Polish city of Lodz, admits that initially the switch was challenging. "Before I'd be checking everything, such as buses and restaurants, on my smartphone [when travelling]. Now that is impossible, so I have learned to do all those things beforehand at home. I got used to it."
One maker of dumbphones is New York company Light Phone. Slightly more clever that the norm for such products, its handsets do allow users to listen to music and podcasts, and link by Bluetooth to headphones. Yet the firm pledges that its phones "will never have social media, clickbait news, email, an internet browser, or any other anxiety-inducing infinite feed".
Light Phone says that sales of its handsets, pictured, have soared
The company says it recorded its strongest year for financial performance in 2021, with sales up 150% compared with 2020. This is despite its handsets being expensive for dumbphones - prices start at $99 (£75).
Light Phone co-founder, Kaiwei Tang, says the device was initially created to use as a secondary phone for people wanting to take a break from their smartphone for a weekend for example, but now half the firm's customers use it as their primary device.
Kaiwei Tang jokes that far too many people are controlled by their smartphones
"If aliens came to earth they'd think that mobile phones are the superior species controlling human beings," he says. "And it's not going to stop, it's only going to get worse. Consumers are realising that something is wrong, and we want to offer an alternative."
Mr Tang adds that, surprisingly, the firm's main customers are aged between 25 and 35. He says he was expecting buyers to be much older.
Tech expert, Prof Sandra Wachter, a senior research fellow in artificial intelligence at Oxford University, says it is understandable that some of us are looking for simpler mobile phones.
"One can reasonably say that nowadays a smart phone's ability to connect calls and send short messages is almost a side feature," she explains. "Your smart phone is your entertainment centre, your news generator, your navigation system, your diary, your dictionary, and your wallet."
She adds that smartphones always "want to grab your attention" with notifications, updates, and breaking news constantly disrupting your day. "This can keep you on edge, might even be agitating. It can be overwhelming."
Prof Sandra Wachter says it is understandable that some people feel 'overwhelmed' by their smartphones
Prof Wachter adds: "It makes sense that some of us are now looking for simpler technologies and think that dumbphones might offer a return to simpler times. It might leave more time to fully concentrate on a single task and engage with it more purposefully.
It might even calm people down. Studies have shown that too much choice can create unhappiness and agitation."
Yet back in London, Robin West says that many people are bewildered by her choice of mobile. "Everyone thinks it's just a temporary thing. They're like: 'So when are you getting a smartphone? Are you getting one this week?'."
I hate how the beginning of the article is written, trying to explain phones like you've only ever heard of a smartphone, almost like they're something on a museum tour
I hate how the beginning of the article is written, trying to explain phones like you've only ever heard of a smartphone, almost like they're something on a museum tour
To be honest I'm mostly let down this wasn't some how spun into something more insane like terrorism or sexism,
Culture changes and there was a time it was honestly hard for people to get a basic phone if they were bundled or had a carrier deal locked. I can think of a few people whom are older who ended up with smart phones because breaking contract with their provider would cost more than the upgrade.
It's really not much a shock when people don't use a tool they don't want it. Also the old school back up for 911 etc you want cheap, I'm not getting an iphone 43 to throw in my glove box if my car crashes in the middle of no where.
Ah, people are starting to shed their horror rectangles. Hopefully people are rejecting the zuckerborg skinner boxes because they see them as such and not just because tiktok fad.
It will be a very good thing if more people wise up to the fact that being connected to the internet 24/7 is basically poison for your brain and using smartphones needs to be done in moderation like with other addictive activities.
I hate how the beginning of the article is written, trying to explain phones like you've only ever heard of a smartphone, almost like they're something on a museum tour
I like how they gloss right over why "dumb" phones will never go away: court orders. It's incredibly common for internet/communication restrictions to be a sentencing component for a lot of crimes. Between that and braindead boomers there's enough demand for niche models to make it.
i carry a shitty jitterbug style phone when i go on vacation so the family can communicate with me as I don't want to see fucking email when I'm on vacation.
I hate how the beginning of the article is written, trying to explain phones like you've only ever heard of a smartphone, almost like they're something on a museum tour
Who knew, a longer lasting battery, absence of stupid tiktok/instagram shit and retarded newsfeeds or not watching a movie in 4K are indeed desirable traits during a full economic meltdown.
i carry a shitty jitterbug style phone when i go on vacation so the family can communicate with me as I don't want to see fucking email when I'm on vacation.
Gotta make sure you are not contactable on your holiday. I also make sure that my work knows that I'm not contactable. They're just gonna have to figure something out without me.
I've been considering switching to a clamshell phone for a while now. I don't have the latest and greatest thing to begin with, I got a cheap iPhone SE, but I find myself using it less and less as I get older. The ability to have a single portable device that does basically everything is really cool, but tech companies have figured out how to get people addicted to the constant stimulation and I think it's a big part of why depression and anxiety are so widespread now. Being constantly exposed to the absolute culture-vomit that is the internet is bound to have a negative impact on peoples' mental state.
The Alt-Right Has A Terrifying New Weapon For White Supremacy How the "dumb-phone" is strengthening Republican violence against marginalized groups By Lydia Greenberg for the New York Times
ALL AMERICANS have come to rely on the blessings given by smartphones. It's how we plan our lives, our work, our play, it's how we communicate, celebrate and (especially in the aftermath of the attempted overthrow of Democracy on 1/6) how we mourn. But old hatreds now have a new face, based in technology from the turn of the century [...]
A mobile phone is just that a phone you can take with you, we started adding all these useless applications onto them and giving them internet connectivity which leads to planned obsolescence. I've never had a smart phone last 5 years, but I still have this junky old-ish Motorola C139 brick; the battery lasts for weeks and it gets signal anywhere I need it which is all that matters.
Regarding the article, I dig the size of the phone, it's smaller than an iphone 4 which I thought was perfectly sized to fit in a pocket and phones with huge ass screens piss me off and jab me in the hip when I bend down.
Hey, now. The Nokia I got in 2002 still gets the internet, to this day. It may only be text based, but the data plan doesn't even notice it the usage. And most of my use while I'm out is reading, anyway. Plus, I've got Brick Breaker and Snake.
Gotta make sure you are not contactable on your holiday. I also make sure that my work knows that I'm not contactable. They're just gonna have to figure something out without me.
It's mostly for my family to contact me in case something happens plus having wifi on the cruise ship's INSANELY limited wifi is fantastic.
My real smart device is turned off and shoved in the car the moment I park cause I used to leave it in the ship's safe but as soon as I turn that damn thing on the day I get into port my anxiety goes through the roof.
